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The Carrier
The Carrier is a short story which first appeared in as the seventh chapter of the very first Biggles book The Camels are Coming, published in September 1932. The story was subsequently republished in The Modern Boy Issue 263, 18th February 1933 where it was given the title Man Hunt in the Air. The story also appeared as the first short story of Biggles Pioneer Air Fighter published in 1954. Synopsis Biggles gets a "birdstrike"--a carrier pigeon hits his aircraft. It is carrying a message from a spy trapped behind enemy lines. Raymond tells him they can't do anything for him but Biggles is not content to leave it alone. Plot (may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) Biggles is carrying out a trench strafing mission in support of an infantry attack when he hears a crash. He tries to wipe something from his face but his hand comes away bloody. Alarmed that he might have been hit and injured, he lands quickly to discover that he just had a "bird strike". The dead body of the bird carries a small capsule with a message in code. British troops coming to his assistance tell him he can get a telephone from their divisional headquarters and so Biggles calls Colonel Raymond and recites the coded letters to him. Raymond calls back to tell him first that his Military Cross had been approved and second that the message was from a British agent who is trapped on the north side of Lagnicourt Wood. An aircraft sent to pick him up had crashed. Now the Germans were hunting him with dogs. Raymond says there is nothing they can do for him. It would be dak in an hour and they can't risk sending a plane over without first looing over the ground. Biggles is however not satisfied and decides to fetch the agent himself. Over Lagnicourt Wood, he spots several groups of German soldiers with tracker dogs so he first scatters them with bombs and machine gun fire. He then "blips" his engine over the north edge to attact the agent's attention and lands in a small field nearby. A man detaches himself from the wood and runs towards the Sopwith Camel. It's the agent! Biggles calls to him to get on to the left wing and then prepares to take off. There is a troop of German Uhlan cavalry coming down the field but Biggles can't avoid them. So he charges straight at them and opens fire with his machine guns. He pulls up on his stick and is away! On the way home, he manages to evade a flight of Fokker fighters but he is not so lucky when it comes to anti-aircraft fire. Something hits the aircraft and his engine cuts out. He is too low to glide the rest of the way and force lands some 300 yards short of the British lines. He executes a pancake landing and is knocked unconscious during the impact. Biggles comes to and finds Major Mackay of the Royal Scots and his former passenger offering him a drink of rum. Mackay explains that his troops had taken that section of ground that afternoon. Characters *Biggles *Colonel Raymond *Major Mackay - of the Royal Scots Aircraft *Sopwith Camel *Fokkers - of an unspecified type. Going by the timeline, probably the Fokker Dr.I. Places Visited *Lagnicourt Wood Editorial Changes *In the Pioneer Air Fighter version, "Go to hell" becomes "Go to blazes". *But the Pioneer Air Fighter editors left in the part about Major Mackay offering Biggles rum at the end! Alcohol for medicinal purposes are all right, one supposes. Other Research Notes *Colonel Raymond is mentioned as being from 91st Wing. References to the past Incongruities Chronology (see also table at Timeline of the Biggles Stories) *"... the icy edge of the February wind whipped round his face...." There is only one possibly February and this would be February 1918. Publication History *''The Camels are Coming'', John Hamilton, 1932 *''The Modern Boy'', Issue 263, 18th Feb 1933 (as Man Hunt in the Air) *''Biggles in the Camels are Coming'', Boys' Friend Library, 1938 (as Chapter 7: Man Hunt in the Air) *''Biggles Pioneer Air Fighter'', Thames, 1954 and reprints (as Chapter 1: The Carrier) *''Biggles: The Camels are Coming'', Red Fox, 1993 and subsequent reprints and editions *''The Camels are Coming'', Norman Wright, 2010 References Category:Short stories Category:Biggles short stories Category:World War One era short stories